Fernando Valdes is perched on the windowsill of a laundromat on Donald J. Trump Avenue in Hialeah, whistling to a bird to lure it closer.
“I have the birds used to it so I can feed them,” he said.
Valdes arrived from Cuba in 1980 during the Mariel Boatlift, when 125,000 Cubans fled the communist nation to Florida by boat. Things in Cuba were bad then, he told WLRN. But from what he hears from his only remaining cousin on the island, things are worse now than they’ve ever been.
“It all depends on the Americans now. Cubans — they aren’t capable of pushing for change, they don’t have the strength for it,” said Valdes. “It has to be the Americans that do it. And in that, I have faith.”
Faith that the United States will for once and for all rid the island of communism runs high in Hialeah, a city of about 235,000 of which nearly 75% has Cuban roots.
President Donald Trump exerted pressure on Cuba during his first term, reversing the trademark loosening of restrictions enacted by President Barack Obama. Then during Trump's second term, in early January, the calculus shifted once again when the U.S. arrested Venezuela's then-President Nicolás Maduro and pressured the remaining government of the key Cuba ally to cut what was its biggest supply of oil.
President Trump has since then imposed an effective fuel blockade on Cuba, leaving hospitals and schools in darkness, along with paralyzing public transport in the country. Tankers suspected of attempting to bring oil to the island have been intercepted by military vessels at sea. An attempted armed incursion of the island by Cubans and Cuban-Americans living in Florida last week ended with four killed by the Cuban Coast Guard and six suspects facing on terrorism charges.
Elsewhere, the U.S. has launched a war against Iran alongside Israel. President Trump has highlighted regime change as a core objective of the ongoing armed action.
READ MORE: Cuba's president pushes for 'urgent' changes to island's economic and business model
For many, the conditions are perfect for what the Cuban-American exile community has called for for 67 years: Regime change. The clear conduit for that change, as they see it: President Trump.
“Things are great now in the sense that we have the opportunity for a president to stay true to his word and liberate Cuba so that we Cubans can get our country back,” said Manuel Moya, a Hialeah barber.
Bryan Calvo, the 28-year old new Cuban-American mayor of Hialeah, said he supports the Trump administration’s actions towards Cuba, but that he would like to see a more “aggressive” stance, and even direct military action taken.
“Obviously what they did in Venezuela was militarily awesome. It was certainly a game changer in the region and the geopolitics of this region. Could we see something similar in Cuba? I think that they certainly have the capability to do so, and I think that would make a lot of Cubans and a lot of Cuban-Americans very happy if that was the action taken,” said Calvo.
Humanitarian crisis
The efforts to maximize pressure on Cuba has deepened a humanitarian crisis that was well underway before the U.S. government cut off oil shipments. Even among Hialeah residents who want the Cuban government to fall, those policies are controversial.
Two blocks away from City Hall, Rosario Prieto stopped by a CubaMax store in order to send much needed medicine to her daughter, grandson and son-in-law in Havana. Her son-in-law has lupus. The company has helped Cuban families send goods to loved ones on the island for years, but recently has announced that the fuel shortage on the island caused by the blockade has deeply impacted its logistical operations.
For Prieto, the U.S. fuel blockade means longer for needed medicine to reach her family.
“I’m sorry to laugh, but they told me that they’re going to have to send a tricycle to deliver the medicine in Havana,” said Prieto.
“ I understand that the U.S. is trying to get the government out, but everything they are doing affects the people. The people are the ones that suffer the consequences — the government will keep eating, drinking and living the good life.”
The United Nations has repeatedly warned that the humanitarian situation on the island is facing a downward spiral under increased U.S. pressure. Medical care for tens of thousands of cancer patients and pregnant women is at risk as the nation loses access to fuel imports, according to the UN. An estimated 85% of island residents rely on electricity-dependent pumps to get their drinking water. Without fuel, many of those taps run dry.
UN Resident Coordinator for Cuba Francisco Pichón told reporters last week that daily life is "becoming fragile," and food security is rapidly "deteriorating."
Speaking about situations like those of Prieto, Mayor Calvo said that while allowing trade between the U.S. and Cuba to continue “would benefit that one individual,” many more Cubans are hurt over the long run by trade of any kind being allowed to continue.
Calvo told WLRN he does “not want to see any” U.S. trade with Cuba in order to maximize the pressure on the government.
“ The ultimate goal is that not a single dollar from our community goes to support that dictatorship,” said Calvo. “ But it takes a combined effort.”
“ We don't know when [regime change] will happen, but I think we'll see something big soon and it's important for us as a community to be prepared."Hialeah Mayor Brian Calvo
The same day he was sworn into office on Jan. 12, Calvo signed an executive order creating a task force to keep tabs on what is happening in Cuba and to investigate companies that help arrange travel and shipment of goods to the island.
The purpose is to find out if those companies are violating federal laws that tightly regulate what kind of business transactions can be done with Cuba, said Calvo. The city at first identified 290 businesses to investigate.
Hialeah is following in the footsteps of similar efforts by the Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez, who has notified 3,909 businesses across the county that they are now being scrutinized. Fernandez is being sued in federal court by a charter flight company that was briefly and mistakenly shut down in late December. Fernandez publicly alleged that the company was engaged in “illegal commerce with the Cuban Communist dictatorship,” which the company likens to an accusation that is an “existential threat” to the business. Fernandez is fighting the lawsuit in federal court and has vowed to shut down more businesses.
Whatever the future holds for Cuba, Mayor Calvo is certain that Hialeah will “be at the forefront” of it. Tens of thousands of Cuban residents who arrived in the last few years could well return to the island if a rapid change of government takes place, he suggested. The same holds for the possibility of more Cubans arriving because of the worsening humanitarian crisis, he acknowledged.
“The future president of Cuba could be living in Hialeah right now,” said Calvo.
“ We don't know when it will happen, but I think we'll see something big soon, and it's important for us as a community to be prepared because we could be seeing tens of thousands of people easily take to the streets in celebration,” said the mayor.
The city has already begun outlining plans with police and fire departments about how to handle such major outpouring, whatever it might be.
“ It's on its last breath,” said Calvo, speaking of the Cuban government. “ The last thing that we want is for this moment to sort of pass and there not be a change, because I don't think we've ever been as close as we are now.”
